IBHJ 1315

"At last, my vessel has returned to me." Sixth Seat's laughter rolled across the sky, dripping with arrogance and satisfaction.

The sky above trembled as the Grail, pulsing with dark malice, and the Holy Grail, radiating sacred light, began to respond to one another. They flickered in a hypnotic rhythm—brightness giving way to shadow, then shadow surrendering to light—turning the world into a swirling canvas of chaos.

Responding to his will, both cups vibrated with a soft, resonant hum while floating in midair. They started to spin, gradually picking up speed, and then slowly merged into one another. What remained was a single cup suspended in the air, wreathed in chaotic light and shadow. It somehow contained both the pure sacredness of the Holy Grail and the filthy malice of the corrupted Grail—qualities that should have rejected each other, yet now existed in perfect harmony.

In that moment, Sixth Seat felt it happen—his spirit and vessel finally becoming whole again.

"I’m sure you never saw this coming, Holy Spirit," he said, voice cold with hatred. "After all these years, I've finally returned! I'm going to drag my hatred straight to heaven and make you taste every bit of my resentment!"

The Grail began to spin wildly, accelerating until it was just a blur. Down on earth, the people of the Eternal Empire and the ruins of their civilization started to dissolve. Their bodies broke down into glowing particles that drifted upward like luminous snow. These particles streamed together, forming a vast, surging ocean of light that rushed toward the Grail, feeding its power.

As this happened, the Grail released something in return. Countless dark anti-spirit particles overflowed from its spinning form, spreading across the entire sky like an infection. What few realized was that Sixth Seat—or more accurately, the Grail itself—functioned as a massive converter. Originally, the Holy Spirit had created it for a noble purpose: to transform the world's evil into good, essentially recreating heaven in another realm. But there was an unforeseen consequence. The more evil Sixth Seat converted, the more it began to question the Holy Spirit's very definition of "good." This questioning led to its corruption, and eventually, the sacred Holy Grail transformed into something else entirely—the Antichrist.

"The Demon King failed to create it, but I've done what she couldn't," he boasted with a thunderous laugh. "I've absorbed the seed of Paranirmitavasavartin, and now I'm going to transform this entire galaxy into a weapon. Even if I can't destroy you directly, I can still obliterate your precious heaven!"

His consciousness stretched across the vast universe, focusing on a nebula 650 light-years away.

He clenched his teeth as he studied it. Though not heaven itself, he knew something crucial lay hidden within that swirling cosmic cloud—a dimensional gateway connecting heaven to this galaxy. His plan was elegant in its destructiveness: first convert the solar system into an anti-spirit particle bomb, then launch it straight through that dimensional entrance into heaven. While an anti-spirit particle explosion, even one on the scale of a nebula, might not be enough to destroy the Holy Spirit itself, heaven and all its angels would be far more vulnerable.

Just then, a brilliant beam of light erupted from the ethereal Imperial Palace, streaking toward the Grail with incredible speed. But the attack was futile—before it could even get close, the beam simply dissolved into spirit particles and scattered harmlessly into nothing.

Sixth Seat turned toward the source of the attack. There stood Mordred, transformed by her own Grail, staring intently at the Grail floating beside him. Around her gathered the others who had fought alongside her against the Ideal King.

"Well, well," he said with a sneer. "I almost forgot. Satan has another half-body, and it's been with you all along, Mordred!"

Mordred's eyes never left the rotating Grail as she responded firmly, "Your plan is going to fail."

"You think you can stop me? You? Just a bunch of insignificant humans?" He burst into mocking laughter, then pointed directly at Mordred and her companions. "Though I suppose I should thank you, Mordred. If you hadn't killed that monster, I never would have been revived!"

Mordred's fists tightened until her knuckles went white. "She... was not a monster!" she growled through clenched teeth.

"Is that what you call human emotion?" he taunted. "Such tedious, meaningless things!"

The moment his words faded, the Grail began pouring out countless dark particles. Within seconds, an infinite black mist swept across the planet, so thick and complete that even the sun's light completely disappeared.

The world plunged into absolute darkness—a black so complete it swallowed every trace of light. From the Grail at its center, something massive began to form in the sky: a colossal, distorted dragon taking shape in the void above them.

The moment it appeared, Kama and Merlin's eyes contracted.

"That thing is back!" Kama shouted, recognition and fear mingling in her voice.

Zelretch scowled, a bitter memory surfacing. He had firsthand experience with this abomination—it had devoured him once before.

"You've served your purpose," Sixth Seat declared coldly. "Now disappear."

As the words left his mouth, the dimensional barrier isolating the planet shattered like glass. Countless massive arms materialized throughout the sky, reaching down toward them.

Simultaneously, the ground beneath the Imperial Palace cracked open. Rocky limbs broke through the conceptual boundary that had been holding them back, lunging toward Mordred and the others with terrifying speed.

"Just as I thought!" Kama hissed through clenched teeth. This nightmarish scene was burned into her memory, and she was the first to launch herself at the rocky appendages. Unlike in her youth, she was no longer someone who needed protection from others. But as her attack connected, she realized something alarming—these rocky arms were far more powerful than before!

The abomination had been terrifying before, but now that Sixth Seat had absorbed the Ideal King's Holy Grail, its power had reached an entirely new level.

—Watch yourself, Mordred, her Grail warned in her mind.

"Yeah, I figured that out already!" Mordred snapped back, dodging frantically left and right. Despite her speed and skill, breaking through the wall of grasping arms seemed nearly impossible.

Zelretch tore open a dimensional gateway to a parallel world. Through this rift, he unleashed his multiple world ensemble cannon—a truly devastating attack that pulled and concentrated the raw energies of countless parallel worlds into one violent stream. The air crackled and hissed as reality itself struggled to contain the power he was channeling. At the same time, Arthur, Tiamat, and Altera positioned themselves in formation, charging their most powerful beam attacks before firing simultaneously.

Everyone watched with desperate hope as the combined energy beam—a fusion of multiple powers that made the air taste like metal—surged toward the abomination. The light was so intense that people had to shield their eyes. But before it could even reach its target, countless arms descended from the sky and intercepted it. With casual ease, like fingers grabbing a sheet of paper, the arms gave a slight tug. There was a sound like tearing fabric, and that terrifying energy beam—their strongest attack—was shredded to pieces.

Seeing this, everyone's hearts sank like stones.